Improvement in photography



UNITED STATES ELIPHALET J. FOSS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN PHOTOGRAPHY.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 118,006, dated August 15, 1871.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ELIPHALET J. FOSS, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of lvlassachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Photography; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact dcscription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making a part of this specification.

Figure I is a plan of printing-frame with ruled negative in position; Fig. II, plan of mat with ova-l opening. Figs. III and IV show vthe position on the ruled negative of the picture that is to be printed; Fig. V, ruled negative with vwaved lines.

My improvement relates mainly to the product-ion of the background of a photographic picture, but may be used for making designs for printed goods, and for various other ornamental purposes. The main feature of novelty is a negative of clear glass, havingfinelines ruled, drawn, or otherwise produced upon one of its surfaces, and so used in printing by the ordinary exposure to light as to produce a background or tint of a peculiar and novel character.

A plate of clear glass, of suitable size, is coa-ted with collodion in the usual manner for making a negative. It is then exposed to light, which produces a uniform dark color over the whole surface; the plate is then washed, toned, fixed, and varnished. The glass plate thus prepared is now to be placed in a'ruling-machine, and tine parallel lines made across it, as represented at N, Fig. I. The tool used in the rulingmachine must have a point or edge that will remove the whole of the collodion-iilm without scratching the surface of the glass. The exact breadth ofthe lines for producing the best effect cannot be definitely stated. I have obtained good results with lines of fifty to the inch, but in this muchvariation maybe allowed. The effect is improved by using both tine and coarse lines on the same plate, as in Fig. I, where the lines upon the left are coarser than those on the right side. From this ruled plate or negative others may be madein the copying-camera, but the lines are less sharp, and I prefer to make, in the ruling-machine, each negative that is to be used for making the background of a picture.

I will now describe the successive steps to be followed in producing one kind of photographic picture, commonly called a medallion.7 Out an oval opening, O, in a piece of paper or card-board, M, Fig. II, place this in proper position upon the common picture negative, put on the prepared paper, and print inthe common frame. The open space O, being exposed to the light, now contains the picture or face, while the margin, that is covered by the mat M is not effected. Now, place the ruled negative D in the printingirame F, as shown in Fig. I, and upon it lay the picture I), as in Fig. III, having iirst covered the face or part that is to be protected from the further action of light with the oval card C that was cut from the opening O in the card-board M, Fig. II, then expose to light and print. \V hen taken from the frame the background is found to be printed in parallel lines. Now, place it again upon the ruled negative, at a slight angle with its iii-st position, as represented in Fig. IV, taking care to keep the oval card O in place; now expose to light, and print again.

On examination of the picture it is found to have a margin or background formed of lines crossing each other at an angle, a great variety of effects being produced by a very slight chan gc in the relative position of the ruled negative and the picture. It will be observed that there are three successive printin gs: lirst, the picture or head; second the background of parallel lines, third, the background of lines, crossing or interfering with the first series of lines. Then this last or third printing is to be made the frame should be held upto the light and the picture placed at such an angle as will give the desired effect. It may be very light and delicate tracery-work, or it maybe dark and have a great variety of curved, shaded, and watered iigures.

To produce other styles of background the ruled lines on the glass negative may be of various kinds. One of these, representing waved lines, is shown in Fig. V.

Instead of making the negativeruled plate by the photographic process as first described, the clear glass may be coated with paint or black varnish, and when dry the lines may be cut through this coating by the ruling-machine or other suitable mechanism.

XV hat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- 1 1. A clear-glass negative, having fr series of ground, when Jche same is produced in the manne lines engraved, ruled, or printed upon it, und ner herein described, 0r by other equivalent proeused for the purpose of producingl Jdie buekess.

grounds 0f photographie pictures, substantially ELIPHALET J. FOSS. [L S.] in the manner deseribed. VVituesse-s:

2. As a new article, u h0t0gmphie picture, HENRY S. ROWE, card, or print, having ay lined 0r retieulaited buck- JOHN M. BATCHELDER. 

